What ONE skill have you never acquired?

[RetroLounge]

Me: I cannot gift wrap to save my life. I try. But alas...

You?

:shrug:

RL

[lizziegrace]

1. I can't arrange flowers in a vase

one of many things I can't do.

:shrug:

[Inchworm]

2. silence

I usually don't know when not to say silly things.

That and threading a needle :)

:hi:

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. Am I limited to only one? I am so remarkably skill-free...

Here are just a few of my un-skills:

I can't cook oatmeal without burning it.

I can't tie sailors' knots.

I can't paint anything without making a mess.

My mashed potatoes are usually lumpy.

I can't buck rivets.

I can't do gas welding without melting everything.

I can't sew on buttons without stabbing myself.

I can't slice apples without cutting my thumb.

I can't lick envelopes without getting a paper cut on my tongue.

[fizzgig]

15. i can't make lumpy mashed potatoes to save my life

and that's how my dad likes 'em

[hyphenate]

4. Oh, too many to really count

I guess, though, the ones I seriously wish I could do include sewing, crocheting or knitting, and keeping house. I know that the last of those would certainly come in handy. ;)

[flvegan]

5. Shutting my big, fat yap.

I also can't gift wrap well, I suck at remembering dates 'n stuff and no matter how many times I play, I suck suck suck at golf.

[HEyHEY]

6. financial management

[SPKrazy]

7. I'm way disorganized

and am terrible at it too

:P

I can gift wrap sort of :rofl:

[Ptah]

8. Understanding a movie the first time I see it.

[GOPisEvil]

9. Organization and time utilization.

[sakabatou]

10. I cannot tie a tie

[LaraMN]

11. I can't drive a stick.

x(

[mwooldri]

31. Me too. Makes hiring rental cars in Europe more difficult.

Fortunately our last hire experience turned out good. We had an agreement with Thrifty to rent a compact automatic when we were last back in the UK. Problem was that the previous renter had not returned it and wouldn't get it back for another couple of days. So we waited around for a bit and then we got upgraded to a full size volvo sedan (saloon in UK) with the works, but paid the compact rental price. I'd have preferred the compact - more maneuverable through the narrow lanes of where I used to live than this Volvo "Tank". But hey, it was an upgrade!

Mark.

[Cabcere]

35. Me neither!

:( I really feel like I should learn, but when I was learning to drive my family didn't have any manual vehicles at all, so I didn't really have anywhere to learn. :shrug: Then my brother (who is five years younger than me, dammit) got a 5-speed truck and said he was going to teach me how to drive that, but the truck ended up being sold so it's back to square one for me. x(

Actually, I don't know how to do a lot of automotive things. I mean, I'm a fairly good driver (IMO, anyway :P), and I can pump my own gas, but I've never been through a drive-thru and I don't know how to change a tire or anything like that. :shrug:

[zingaro]

12. I can't read music.

Many many people have tried to teach me. It's indecipherable to my brain.

[SPKrazy]

13. can you play an instrument without reading?

:shrug:

I can read music okay,

I haven't put that skill to any use lately though

:hi:

how are ya?

[zingaro]

14. I can plink something out on a piano but

just the tune. I can't make both hands work in unison, despite many people telling me "um, you type 80+ wpm. You CAN play the piano."

"Um, no genius. I can't. If I could, would I be sitting here trying to learn?"

I swear some people deserve a nice hard thunk upside the head.

No guitar - again with the two hands working together thing. And, alas, that means no violin, which i would love above all else to play. Oh well. This is not my musically talented life. I'm regaled to appreciater status and that's OK.

I'm good. Way too busy. You? :hug:

[SPKrazy]

16. doing okay

a little puny

but otherwise well

:hug:

practice practice practice

that's what my piano teacher always said

i hated it so i quit finally

wish i hadn't

my mother always said i'd regret it

never thought i would then, but now i do

maybe i'll take lessons again someday

although now, my piano is not with me

but maybe my son will get to make use of it

edit: I'm hoping he will take some lessons

but I won't force him to.

[zingaro]

26. Yeah.

Holidays. :hug:

Isn't it funny how those parents who were such morons turn out to have known all the shit all along?

And how often do I hopehopehope my kids think the same thing someday? :rofl:

I hope you feel un-puny soon.

[Lord Wortherington]

17. Time travel

I've got the part where time passes in 24 hour segments mastered, but I can only move forward.

[DarkTirade]

18. Drawing.

[femmocrat]

37. That is probably the ONE skill I have acquired!

Years of practice, though.

[DarkTirade]

40. Unfortunately my lack of skill makes me give up too often on it so I haven't

been able to get enough practice to overcome my lack of skill. :P Kind of a catch-22. There was a while where I could kind of sketch out what I saw, and I could kind of do the hard-line comic/cartoon style drawings. But those sucked, the only ones that were any good were the ones where I drew what I saw.

[Xipe Totec]

19. Genuflection

Even in my deepest, most obsequious bows, my middle finger extends instinctively.

And they can always sense it.

[DS1]

20. recognizing that it's time to clean the place up

my tolerance for shit hanging around is legendary among hermits

[Blue_In_AK]

21. I can't do much involving mechanical ability...

Carpentry, plumbing, electricity, that sort of thing. I can hang wallpaper and paint, though, very well.

[mopinko]

22. cannot play a note, cannot read a measure,

or tap my foot in time with music for more than a couple bars.
in fact, cannot even hum. ask my kids. they can't stand it.
the really sad thing about having an ipod is my tendency to sing and shake my thing to music that no one else can hear. really. they could make a case to put me away with just a short bit of video.

[Perry Logan]

23. The rules of poker have been explained to me many times. But I just don't get it.

[trof]

24. I can't whistle with my fingers.

That really loud, shrill whistle some folks can do.
I once dated a VERY 'refined' girl who could and it just cracked me up.
So out of character.
And she tried to teach me and it really pissed me off that I couldn't.
:-(

[NMDemDist2]

25. I am a GIFT WRAPPING MACHINE

I love wrapping gifts, it's my favorite part of the holidays

but I can't whistle or draw at all

I sing well, play a little guitar and piano, dance up a storm, write coherently (usually) but can't draw a circle to save my soul

and never did get the whistle thing.....

[LeftyMom]

27. rolling pastry.

It's not quite enough like cooking, which I'm very good at, and a bit much like art, which I'm bad at.

[AnnieBW]

28. Drawing

I'm very good at crafting, and manipulating images on a computer. But I can't draw to save my life.

[Bennyboy]

29. Gift wrap for me too..

Only wussies or women can gift wrpa s far as I am concerned.

[KitchenWitch]

30. I can't juggle.

[distantearlywarning]

32. Fractions.

I spent most of 3rd and 4th grade secretly reading novels behind my math textbooks. Now I can do graduate level statistics but I cannot do fractions. It's kind of pathetic.

[YankeyMCC]

33. Make small talk on the phone

I can make small talk reasonably well (though not as good as some perhaps) in person but I just seem to be missing whatever it is that allows people, even makes them enjoy, chatting on the phone. For me the phone is to make quick reliable contact to pass time sensitive information.

Even when I lived far from home I couldn't really bring myself to 'chat' on the phone. I'd much rather write a letter (this was pre-email or at least pre-everyonehasemail) but I rarely did that because I knew most people wouldn't bother reading them, they'd rather call. :banghead:

PS: Giftwrapping is another skill I lack.

[Skittles]

41. same here, Yankey

I simply have no interest to yak on the phone - it just seems pointless to me

[China_cat]

34. Driving.

[femmocrat]

36. Being the life of the party.

I actually panic when I have to walk into a room full of people already standing around talking. I always feel out of place and cannot join their conversations.

[Fire Walk With Me]

38. Intimacy.

Edit: Too much information for some, just enough for me.

[Joey Liberal]

39. Playing Golf or Cards

Those two things just make no sense to me.

[triguy46]

42. Num chuk skills, bow skills, computer hacking skills, hunting skills

girls only want guys who have skills.

[Generic Brad]

43. I cannot speak Mandarin Chinese

[AwakeAtLast]

44. Sewing - and my Grandma was a terrific seamstress!

I am horrible at it!

Now gift wrapping...Mom used to give all of the gifts to me to be wrapped. The gifts being given to me were, well, let's just say I wish I could have wrapped them, too! :rofl:

[barb162]

45. sewing

But I can wrap a great package.